Sunday, June 28, 2015

1975 Mercury Bobcat

When I first came across this car I had no idea what it was.  From the remnants of the badges I could see it was a Mercury Bobcat but I had never heard of it before.  Additionally, it seems to have the MPG package.



It turns out, the Mercury Bobcat is simply a rebadged Ford Pinto!  While the Pinto was made from 1971-1980, the Bobcat was only made from 1974-1980.


This one had a lot stripped from it.  But not much from the engine.  

I have no idea what size engine is in this one.  But I did find that the MPG package means it has different gearing ratios (and that's all I could find about it).


Interior is toast.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

1989 Nissan NX Pulsar

  
I remember the first time I came across one of these.  I was driving on the I-17 and I saw one with a rare Sportback.  My first thought was that perhaps it was some kind of import, or rare sports car.  What I saw was a second generation Nissan NX Pulsar (just like this one, except this has the standard hatchback).  
These were made from 1986-1990.



I think the rear is obviously the cooler-looking part of the car.  The front and side seems pretty typical to me.


Not too exciting inside. 


This particular car came with the 1.6L throttle body injection SOHC (with the other option being a 1.8L fuel injection, DOHC)


1989 Ford Probe GT

The first generation Ford Probe.  It was only made from 1989-1992.  The second generation lasted a bit longer ('93-'97).  In any case, out if all the trim levels available this is the big one: the GT!

 Special styling in the rear



It came with the 2.2L turbo charged engine. The whole car is based on the Mazda GD platform.


More special decals on the side.


Came with a 5 speed manual and 4 wheel disc brakes.

This particular one managed to make it almost to 212,000.  These engines were very reliable.  The same engine was also found in the Mazda MX-6 Turbo (which coincidentally I also found at the same junkyard)

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

1978 Mercury Marquis

First off, this one is in rough shape: paint, interior, everything.  In any case, this was the last year of the 3rd generation of Marquis.



At one point I'm sure it was a great looking car; it is similar to the Buick Electra.


Yikes, look at that.  Also, the odometer showed 78xxx on it (it was only a 5 digit odometer),  But I suspect that it was probably 178k.


I like the design features of the door panel.

Likely the 351 or 400 (5.8L, 6.6L) engine.

Friday, June 19, 2015

1988 Volkswagen Fox

I never heard of one of these until I saw it in the junkyard. In the US these were made from '87-'93. 

It had the same 1.8L as the Golf.  But apparently didn't get very good gas mileage (mid 20's)

Supposedly there was no power steering in this car.  All in all a very basic car.
  

Check out those low miles!!
Original hubcaps were still in the car as well.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

1989 Ford F350 with Cherry Picker

I often find commercial vehicles at salvage yards.  However, finding one with a boom lift is pretty unusual.
This '89 F350 had no markings on the doors or side panels (as far as I could tell) so I'm not entirely sure what it was originally used for.
There was only a 5 digit odometer, so I have no idea how long it was in service.  But it looks like it had a decent interior at one point.

 

1992 Ford Taurus SHO

 I come across these every so often at the junkyard.  Typically I find second generation ones, such as this.




The Taurus SHO has more aggressive body styling but more importantly has a wonderful engine: a Yamaha/Ford built 3.0 (or 3.2 later) V6.  Which had 80 more hp than the standard Taurus (220 vs 140)


The interior is pretty shot.  It did not have many miles on it either, only about 120k.

1980 Chevorlet Chevette

Here's a gem from the 70's/80's. A Chevette!

Produced from 1975-1986 (with model years being '76-'87) the Chevette sold quite well; it was a replacement for the failing Vega.
It came with a 1.4 or 1.6L engine, and made decent gas mileage (supposedly 29-39mpg).
And look at that interior!  They don't make it like they used to.
Looks like this one came with the optional 3-speed automatic.





Friday, June 12, 2015

1990 Subaru Justy

Recognize that little thing?  It's a Subaru Justy!  This one is from 1990 which means it is still carburated!  It wasn't until '91 they finally started making them fuel injected.
These little buggers were sold from 1987-1994. 
 It came with a little 1.2L engine, and surprisingly, there is even a 4WD model out there!

This is not one of them, however.

Bees!

I don't think I've ever come across a car with caution tape around it at the junkyard before.  This one was particularly frightening because it said "caution bees" and sure enough, I saw a small swarm around the engine bay!

Thursday, June 11, 2015

1961 Chevrolet Corvair Van

I do love the vans from the '60's and this is no exception.  The Chevy Corvair Van was air-cooled and mid-engine; being from 1961 that makes it a 1st generation. 
This particular car had a number of parts from the engine removed.

This was the 6-door model, as it only had one entrance for the cargo area on the passenger side.
Not surprisingly the interior was in rough shape.

1963 MG 1100


Came across this 1963 MG 1100 today.  Its pretty darn crusty, but I've never actually seen one before.  Turns out they were available in the US from 1962-1968.  This 2 door version was unavailable in the UK



Unfortunately I forgot to snap a picture of the engine bay!  But it had a 1.1L 4cylinder engine.
The interior however, I did photograph, and it was toast.